As of today, Liffey Valley staff members will be expected to pay €2.50 daily to park at their place of work.
A protest took place at Liffey Valley shopping centre on Sunday 16th October due to the introduction of paid parking for staff as well as customers. Under the new scheme, employees will pay €2.50 per trip they make to Liffey Valley, while customers will pay €2.50 for the first three hours.
These new charges are coming in today, Monday 17th October.
An employee of Liffey Valley reached out to Lovin Dublin to describe the new scheme as “a forced payment of 600 euro” and that this is “a wage cut in our eyes.” This same employee told us that Liffey Valley staff were offering to pay €100 annually for parking, but that this has been refused, leaving them no choice but to protest.
Sinn Fein T.D. Mark Ward showed his support for the protest, tweeting the following:
“Standing in solidarity with Liffey Valley Workers who are protesting about unjust car parking charges that are being imposed on them.”
Standing in solidarity with Liffey Valley Workers who are protesting about unjust car parking charges that are being imposed on them pic.twitter.com/xIMpFOTVVm
— Mark Ward T.D. (@Wardy1916) October 16, 2022
Liffey Valley made a statement about the new charges, saying that they appreciate that these changes, “to a practice that has existed for 24 years is difficult for all our stakeholders and especially for staff“. Their hope with the new parking system, which is “much-improved” is that “parkers who are not either visiting or working for retailers in the Centre will no longer avail of our parking facilities.”
However this could cost staff members up to €600 annually for parking.
People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny also tweeted his support for the protest.
Retail workers today will stage a protest this afternoon at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in regards to the introduction of staff car parking charges. Workers will face up to €600 per year in car parking charges. I fully support the workers in protesting against these charges.
— Gino Kenny TD (@Ginosocialist) October 16, 2022
The new parking charges come as just another blow in the midst of the current cost of living crisis.
Today the protest will continue, after a huge amount of support was shown by customers. A Liffey Valley employee tells us that already their designated carpark is almost full, and that staff members beginning later in the day will likely struggle to find parking as a result. This means they will likely have to park in the regular carpark, paying the full daily rate of €12.50.
Header image via Twitter/Wardy1916
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